


I Turn the Page

by MistressYin



Series: Just A Word [28]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Good Babysitter Steve Harrington, Graphic Description, Happy Ending, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-28
Updated: 2018-11-28
Packaged: 2019-09-01 21:46:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16773550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MistressYin/pseuds/MistressYin
Summary: Steve knew he would be screwed.





	I Turn the Page

**Author's Note:**

> Part two! Yayy...
> 
> And the phrase of the day is...I Turn the Page

Steve knew he had multiple scars, and by the eyes boring into him, they realized this as well.   
His back had deep long strips where a belt had dug into the skin, a deep red thin line before slowly spreading outward into a more subdued brown color. They laced up his spine, and wrapped around his shoulders. 

His neck had small cuts and scrapes from pieces of glass. His arms had just as many belt lashes that went off target, flowing down and circling his elbows. 

In his personal opinion the visible part of his thighs were the worst. White splotches coated his ankles, deep gashes from deeper glass up his legs, and on the back of his thighs and calves were more belt marks. 

On his side was a particular brutal scar, from where the glass case had fallen over and landed on him. he remembered the crippling pain in his side as he gasped. It was large, and stretched from his belly button all the way back to his spine. The scar deepened right on the side of his stomach where the wood splintered. 

He wondered idly the texture of them all, because it wasn’t like he and Nancy hadn’t done it. It was always dark though, and under sheet and quilts when his clothes started to be removed. They hadn’t done it much, though, because Nancy wasn’t in the mood and he wasn’t pushing it. it probably crippled their short relationship even further. 

“Steve.” Jonathon looked straight at him, pity seeping into his eyes. Steve bit his tongue as a strike of irritation rushed through him. 

He made a face, awkward with all the staring. 

“I’m about ninety-nine percent sure you’ve seen me naked before, Nanc’.” 

This only seemed to worsen the situation, because she bit her lip hard and turned away from him. “I should’ve noticed.”

Steve scoffed, real anger boiling now, “Are you trying to feel guilty? Because my mother had a chance to change this situation any time, and I had friends and girlfriends before you. A lot of people could’ve noticed or taken action but didn’t it. That fact doesn’t concern you, Wheeler.” He knew he had a rather stupid look on her face as she spun back around and met him straight on. 

“Of course it concerns me! Just our hands have more scars than I do! You have a million, Steve.”

“That’s an exaggeration.”

“Come on man, is this why you didn’t want to go swimming?” Dustin asked, looking suddenly just as guilty as Nancy. 

Steve groaned. “Oh my god, stop with the blaming yourselves, if it’s anyone’s fault I was there that long, its mine for staying!”

Jonathon shook his head in shock. “It’s your fathers, you mean! How could you possibly try to claim a abusive situation was your fault?”

Steve let out a frustrated breath. Jonathon didn’t understand. It wasn’t his fault his dad was, violent, no, but it was his fault that he got the chance to be violent for so long. 

“I could’ve ended it, I didn’t. I consciously hid it and chose not to.” Steve gave him a pointed look. 

“Wha- is that really how you think? That you weren’t deathly and RIGHTLY afraid of someone not believing you and you father catching whiff of it? That you even had anyone to tell? Who were you going to tell Steve? A teacher that didn’t like you? Your friends that didn’t care?”

Steve’s blood rain cold as Jonathon’s gaze softened. 

“Only your parents are to blame for this. No one can expect a child to either recognize abuse was happening—“ his gaze flickered to Nancy, “Or escape the situation without help. Your mother should’ve been there for you, and if you just repeated what your father said to you then god, Steve, you have to remember he was absolutely wrong about you.”

Will looked up at his brother then back to him. “Anyone who says you’re not a good person is crazy, Steve. You’re the best babysitter I’ve ever had, including Lonnie.”

“You always make me hot chocolates when I’m unwell because you’re considerate. A word I learned in the dictionary today and immediately thought of you.” Jane beamed. 

Dustin laughed. “You gave up your hair secret just so I could use it for the dance!”

“Come on, we don’t mind your scars. In fact, I like that I know more about you now.”

Steve sobbed, the sound racking his shoulders as he stumbled back into a tree and put a hand on his face. 

It was overwhelming, that’s what it was. Completely overwhelming and too much, because something had always told him how easy it would be to leave his house. It’s what everything always said to him. Just tell the authorities, gather up the courage. They made it seem like it was just that easy. He wondered if they imagined it were just claims of him being a bad person, because they were dead wrong. It was so much more than that. It was his posture, the way he made him feel, the words and how he said them that burned into the back of his skull. They would never understand. They would never know. 

So Steve let out a shaky breath and marched over to them rubbing his eyes. “You guys are somehow the sappiest people I’ve ever met, I’m almost convinced you enjoy making me cry.”

Max scoffed. “You know us, real sadists. Next I should get out the-“ 

Lucas cut off what was surely an inappropriate sentence by pushing her in the water. 

That started a war. 

They were all splashing and shrieking and somehow playing tag but not really because alliances had ben formed and the goal seemed to be to not be in the water, and when you were, to get others in the water with you. Steve stayed under the water, grabbing feet and dragging them into the murky and slimy water, squinting at the gross feel in his eyes. No one else seemed to want to go completely under, especially Nancy who kept herself dog paddling for as long as possible before giving in when she got to exhausted. 

Max was in her natural habitat and basked in another thing she beat the boys at, out swimming them and knowing a multitude of different strokes to perform. Jane eagerly let Max teach her new moves. He didn’t ask why Jane knew how to swim in the first place, just left it how it was. 

If he caught a couple of wondering eyes on his back, then so be it. He still wasn’t used to them yet. 

He had been stuck on the same page for a while, an odd recovery page where there was a stand still. 

He just turned it to the next chapter.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks again from MistressYin!


End file.
